Finding the Best Cleaner for Luxury Vinyl Floors

Product Selection

An excellent question and one we hear often is, “What’s the best cleaner for my luxury vinyl plank floors?”. The answer to finding the best floor cleaning product is not one specific item. It depends upon the brand of floor and if it is in a home or business. Any luxury vinyl floor- plank, tile, sheet, lvt, lvp -is best cleaned with a neutral pH floor cleaner. Next, narrow it down based on the manufacturer of your floor. Some flooring manufacturers, including Mannington and Congoleum, have their own branded floor cleaning products for residential use and their maintenance instructions will direct you to the right product to buy. Armstrong also has branded commercial floor care products, in addition to residential. You will find the same with other flooring brands as well.

If the company that makes your floor doesn’t tell you the exact cleaning product for routine maintenance, look for a quality, neutral pH, cleaner that is safe for use on luxury vinyl. Hilway Direct Neutral Cleaner is top notch and a good option for residential or commercial floor cleaning.

Some flooring manufacturers will provide you with options of floor cleaning brands & specific products. This is often the case with commercial LVT floors. Cleaning concentrates for commercial floor cleaning are typically packaged in 1 and/or 5-gallon sizes. Options include brands like Diversey, Hilway Direct, XL North and Excelsior. Hilway Direct is 1877floorguy’s exclusive brand. Before buying floor cleaner, check your flooring specifications and make a decision based all the facts.

Choosing a Method

As you decide which cleaning product is best to use, you will also need to choose how you will clean your luxury vinyl floors- spray bottle and flat mop -or- wet mop and bucket? The answer to this comes down to personal preference. Both are acceptable for vinyl flooring.

Wet mopping gets a more thorough clean on the floor. Simply dilute the concentrated neutral pH cleaner into a bucket of water and mop the floor. Spray cleaner and a flat mop tends to be easier since you don’t have to fill a bucket with cleaning solution or rinse water. Drying time is faster with spray and wipe mopping because the floors don’t get as wet as with mop & bucket. Some cleaners, like Bona LVT Cleaner, are ready to use in a spray, however those that are concentrated cleaners need to be diluted into an empty spray bottle.  If you go through floor cleaner fairly quickly, tap water is fine to use. If your spray cleaner lasts you 6 months or more, use distilled water to prevent mold growth in the bottle.

Still not sure how you want to clean your floors? We created a couple of videos that might help you decide. View Flat Mopping Magic, Perfect Carry Mop & Bucket Pair, and a few others on our YouTube Channel; or see them on the Videos page of our website.